the buzz log
What's Up With Hockey?
For a league with relatively little buzz, the NHL scored some searches when the free agency window opened. Lookups on the league skated up 182% as fans sought out information on player transactions. As for who's available, queries on "nhl free agents" and "nhl free agency" helped hungry hockey fans find out.
Offseason wrangling also sparked search increases on "nhl trade rumors" (+108%) and "nhl rumors" (+94%). Fans crosschecked news sources and we saw increases on "the hockey news" (+532%), "thefourthperiod.net" (+208%), and "hockeybuzz.com" (+141%).
Hockey needs to garner big-time interest in a big-time market, and the New York Rangers made the biggest splash in Search, up 364%. We also noted increased interest in the Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres. Perhaps there's renewed in the puck, but we wager Buzz is due to mainstream outlets dropping in-depth hockey coverage.
Hockey Waking From Slumber?
The NHL has gone into the boards this season in their attempt to build buzz. Hockey's long slog of a regular season came and went without registering a blip on our radar. Sure, there was a fantastic brawl between Ottawa and Buffalo, Sidney Crosby's prodigious output, and a stick attack from Chris Simon, but hockey continues to teeter on the fringes of American sports culture.
With a TV contract that keeps most fans blissfully unaware of puck-related activities, hockey's been surpassed in buzz by NASCAR, the PGA, and UFC. Can the NHL Playoffs salvage some Search interest? Well, queries on the NHL are up 43% this week and the league is back in our top 10 sports searches. Related searches on "2007 nhl playoffs," "nhl playoff bracket," and "nhl playoff schedule" are also hip-checking their way through our data.
Currently, the Pittsburgh Penguins (led by young Crosby) are the top team in NHL searches. Searches on the Pens jumped 77% as they began their first playoff run since 2001. The top-seeded Sabres come in sixth place in the Buzz standings, but Buffalo hockey fans are tops. How do we know? Well, Buffalo is the top metro for searches on the NHL over the last week by a wide margin.
It's entirely possible that an exciting playoffs can win back a few hockey converts. But it'll take big-market teams going deep to really pique interest. Throw in a few multiple-OT thrillers, exciting young players, and a controversy or two and the NHL could be back on the road to Buzz respectability.
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford 400 | Breakout! |
| 2 | Indonesia Ferry | Breakout! |
| 3 | Jordan Chandler | 3481% |
| 4 | Evan Chandler | 2322% |
| 5 | American Music Awards | 1841% |
| 6 | John F. Kennedy | 1529% |
| 7 | Turkey Stuffing Recipes | 1361% |
| 8 | Liam Hemsworth | 1172% |
| 9 | Lou Dobbs | 1142% |
| 10 | Hendrick Motorsports | 888% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Friday | +340 | 1290 |
| 2 | NFL | +489 | 670 |
| 3 | Jennifer Lopez | +451 | 515 |
| 4 | New Moon | -67 | 250 |
| 5 | American Music Awards | +236 | 249 |
| 6 | UFC | -36 | 239 |
| 7 | Miley Cyrus | +66 | 169 |
| 8 | Hulu | -11 | 154 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
For more detailed information, visit our FAQ.